Corruptive Vicissitudes
by Syaoran Moeroo
Summary: Syaoran has mysteriously disappeared in a shock wave of sound to who knows where? What will happen when he finds himself in an alien environment? And more to the point, why are you reading this summary instead of reading the story?
1. Chapter 1: High Maintenance

Greetings! This is my story based on the _Metroid_ universe. Thought it may not so look it when you read just the first chapter, it will come to reflect it's metroid-based setting. Now, before you go about reading this story I have made I would like to make one thing known. I am not the best writer ever nor will I ever attempt to claim that title, I'm prone to mistakes when I write like most people but the biggest problem I have is usually with grammar. If the wording of anything confuses anyone I'll try my hardest to reword it so it's much more understandable. Feel free to leave reviews on the story ranging anywhere from the completely positive to the more negative-sided reviews (Though, please, if you go to point out a flaw in my writing please try to make a suggestion about how it could be improved, so that maybe I can make the story much more enjoyable for you in later chapters) So, with out further delay I present you with my story,

**Corruptive Vicissitudes  
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Chapter 1: _High Maintenance_**

Slowly light from the morning sun filled the bedroom, creeping over the soft blue carpet towards its victim. On the wall opposite the window a mass of sheets and blankets covered up the bed's occupant up to his crimson-haired head. The light seemed to move faster along the floor; perhaps the thrill of the hunt was edging it on. Nearby an alarm rang out, warning of the sun's plan as it drew nearer. Only too late did the occupant hear the alarm, right as his two crimson orbs opened they were filled with morning sunlight, blinding him temporarily and causing him to tumble out of bed with a loud thud.

"Ahhh shut up…" the teen muttered while he yawned. It wasn't long before he had raised his body from the floor and turned the alarm off with the flick of a switch. Reaching into the clutter that was his desk he pulled out a tough metal comb, of course not before knocking several magazines onto the floor, and even a empty can of some off-brand soda.. Practiced movements quickly removed the knots from his waist-length crimson locks. With his hair now straightened he began to walk towards the door, not yet remembering that the only thing protecting his peach-colored body from being completely naked was a pair of blue boxer shorts.

"Oh, forgot my clothes, guess I should get them before I take a step outside and get tackled by all the women" the teen said with a chuckle, turning towards the mirror behind his door and flexing his muscles, "Oh yes, I'm too sexy for my shirt… but I'll wear one anyways" he said with a smile, reaching up to the back of his neck. At the base a small metal disk about an inch in width was implanted into his skin, his finger tips slid gently along the outer edge of the disk, twisting a fine ring that was on it's surface, after a second of twisting the ring clockwise, and then counter-clockwise he smirked and tapped the black surface in the center.

A faint white glow consumed his body briefly before disappearing to reveal a set of clothing. A pair of stiff black pants with glowing green accents around the ankles and sides sat comfortably around his hips while a pair of jet-black sneakers seemed to be a part of the pants; no matter what angle you looked at them from. Over his chest a black shirt melted into the pants, forming what appeared to be a sleek one-piece outfit. "Alright, got my clothes, hair straightened, guess it's time to go to school." He said with a smile, making haste out of his bedroom, down the hall, and out the front door.

It wasn't long before he had made it to the school's campus where several glowing walkways lead. These walkways provided those who stood on them a quick and efficient ride to their destination, one way the government had phased out vehicles from cities. In the distance he could see the flashes of chromatic light that showed the teleport systems were in the process of translocating their specified students. It wouldn't be long now; the school's teleportation grid was only online twenty minutes before class started. "Syaoran! Hey Syaoran, over here!" called a boy, quickly running up to the crimson-haired teen.

"Oh, hey Trent, didn't know you were here already" Syaoran said with a chuckle, turning to his shorter, significantly younger companion. The boy was only a freshman at the high school and had shaggy brown hair. It was an unlikely pair to be friends. But the two had been assigned as partners in a class that Trent technically wasn't even supposed to be in at his grade level, a chemistry course that only the 'brightest' seniors were supposed to take, but Trent had somehow been smart enough- or perhaps it was just dumb luck –to get a slot in the class. Syaoran had assumed that Trent would be crying for his mother after just the first day of study but was surprised at the boy's intelligence and joy for science.

"Oh yeah, I've been here for… a good hour or so" Trent said, breathing heavily from his rush to see Syaoran. The boy was almost knelt over as he breathed, a similar outfit to Syaoran's on him, but instead of being black and green it was blue with almost eerie white glowing accents. "Take your time there buddy, life's too short to waste it out of breath" he said with a chuckle, motioning for him to take a seat at the nearby bench, least he fall over.

After a minute of breathing Trent was finally able to continue his conversation, turning in his seat he faced Syaoran. "Are you excited about the trip to the Omega Research Labs too!? Oh, I can't imagine the kinds of projects they have going on there…" Trent said with a smile, as if he had spent all night thinking on the field trip instead of sleeping. "Heh, yeah, it's pretty awesome… Maybe they have radioactive spiders or something" Syaoran said with a shrug and a smirk, "Who knows, maybe one will bite you and turn you into Arachni-lad or something."

Trent laughed, "Oh come on Syaoran, that's just nonsense, there's no way a bite, even from a radioactive spider, could cause a fundamental change in someone's DNA" the boy said with a smile, speaking so precisely that it was almost scary. "Oh well, guess this world just isn't quite ready for arachni-lad just yet, huh?" Syaoran asked, the school bell ringing right as he finished his sentence. Just as the bell had finally faded from existence every student began to stand up and walk towards the main building… Some didn't go so quickly though, the air seemed heavy today, maybe it was just the fact it was more humid, or the sounds of the last teleport-system cooling off.

Within the better part of ten minutes a cluster of students had emerged from the quieted school building and approached the teleport systems. At the head of the crowd an older man walked, chatting away to the class about the marvels they would see at the Omega Research Labs (Or the O.R.L. as he would affectionately call it). Syaoran was at the rear of the group of students, yawning into his right hand. "Does he ever shut up?" he slyly asked Trent, not wanting to get in trouble right before the trip. But right as Trent was to respond… "Mr. Moeroo, need I remind you that this trip is a privilege? I have half a mind to turn this entire class around and head you back inside the building!" the professor declared, surprising Syaoran at his sudden outburst. This guy must have all the students bugged, eyes in the back of his head or something Syaoran thought, gulping before opening his mouth to respond, "N-no sir, that needn't be necessary".

"Very well, so if everyone would please form up on the telepad we can get this trip underway" He said with a large smile, standing at the base of the steps which lead up onto the large device. It was only a matter of minutes, and one short talk to Syaoran on the side, before everyone had gotten on and the pad was activated. Slowly a prickly sensation rose up Syaoran's legs the moment the switch was flipped. A familiar dim white glow formed over the bodies of the students before suddenly they had disappeared from the campus. The only common side effect from this mode of transportation was, obviously, motion sickness. It was fortunate however that after a while most people grew past this and were able to travel even after having eaten lunch.

As the world came back into view towering white walls surrounded the class. A large white room was designed for the explicit purpose of providing a place where people could arrive and disembark from without incident. Each of the four walls held no interesting mark of any kind and rose to what Syaoran could only guess was six stories, but with a curved white ceiling it was hard to guess if it was just an optical illusion or not. "Mr. Moeroo! Do you plan on standing there all day or coming on the tour with us?" Came the professor's voice, shaking him from his dreamlike state and back to the reality he had came to see. "Oh, right, sorry sir" he said with a nervous smile, making his way off the platform and noting that most of the class had already been lead out of the room.

The tour consisted of a trip through the actual research labs, the class walked along a catwalk above multiple labs where only the safe experiments and research were being undergone; much to Syaoran's dismay. Suddenly something caught his eye, the tour group had passed the door by, it was invisible unless you looked for it. "Hey, Trent, over here!" Syaoran whispered, crouching down behind the metal railing of the catwalk. Within seconds the smaller boy appeared as well, "What is it?" he asked, watching as Syaoran motioned to the door behind them, the words Restricted Access printed on it in dim red letters obvious. "No way Syaoran, I'm not going in there, do you realize how long I got grounded the last time you suggested something like this?" Trent said, already knowing where this was going… Syaoran had a history with losing the tour group and getting the two of them in trouble. "Oh come on, everything we're seeing is just kids play, don't you want to see what they're really doing around here?" Syaoran goaded, smirking at first before Trent shook his head. "I don't care, last time I wasn't allowed to do _anything_ for a whole month, just sit in my room and study math… If you want to, go ahead, tell me about it later if you want, but I'm gone" Trent said, turning and running back towards the class before Syaoran could talk him into heading on in.

Oh well, his loss Syaoran said with a smirk, glancing around to see if anyone was near enough to see him before stealthily moving his way over to the door. Upon closer inspection it became obvious it could only be opened by a nearby keypad. He had to think for a second on this. He could wait till someone came out or went in and try to slip in with them, the door was plenty big enough to allow four large men in shoulder-to-shoulder… He could try hiding in a corner and making a dash for it, one would think getting out would be simple, right? Worse case he'd just have to find an entrance to the ventilation system and crawl his way out… He could always attempt to figure the key code out by randomly imputing numbers… but he'd only have a slim chance of guessing the right combination, even less if the same number was used more than once. A loud hissing startled Syaoran back to reality, the hydraulics in the door were coming to life, the door was opening from the other side!

Nimbly the redhead jumped backwards, balling himself up against the corner closest the door and keypad. As the door opened a pair of scientists in white lab coats walked through. "What do you think of these readings?" The first asked, he looked to be barely in his thirties, likely an intern or assistant, his hair was still short and dark. The second nodded his head and smiled, his white hair having receded long ago. "Its high-energy state certainly does make it an ideal fuel source, the problem is with it's volatile nature and our ability to contain it, not to mention it's scarcity… We should keep testing it's applications in energy production for the time being and then look at any of it's other properties. Lets just hope the military doesn't get wind of it, every bit we've found will be…" was all Syaoran was able to hear before the door had closed with him on the inside.

A new fuel source? Sounds intriguing, I might even get to see an explosion while I'm here Syaoran thought, surprised a little at how the lab inside was as dim as the catwalk had been. It appeared that the labs were much brighter and that the administration was just cheap on keeping the lights on in the halls. Quickly Syaoran made his way down the hall, hugging the wall farthest from the labs and pausing to listen for people coming his direction. Every lab he peaked in on bored him, most of the experiments seemed just as docile as the ones under the catwalk. After ten minutes of playing cat and mouse with the patrols he began to get tired of the Restricted Access labs, that was until he decided to check one last room. To his left several large windows looked out over a lab, probably designed to allow observers from a safe distance. Inside the lab he saw a group of scientists sitting around the lab at several machines. In the center was a large table with a long tube filled with a strange blue-white substance, it didn't look like anything he had ever seen before… this must be that new fuel the two had spoken of. Every minute the two machines at either end of the tube would warm up and began passing an electrical current through the tube, somehow it seemed that the receiver machine was getting more power than the transmitter sent… It must be a metal of some kind, maybe they've figured out a way to remove protons and/or neutrons from a substance to allow for the harvesting of electrons? he thought whimsically, trying to deduce what the substance was.

A loud alarm was set off at the sixth interval Syaoran witnessed, at first the teen nearly jumped out of his skin and thought he was done for. Finally he realized the alarm was from inside the lab he was looking down into. It seemed the first machine, the one that generated and then passed the charge through the tube, wouldn't shut down. This was causing the second machine to steadily receive more and more power, within the better part of seven seconds the capacitor on the second machine exploded from the strain, sending bits of metal flying every which way. A considerably large chunk came hurdling through the window right in front of Syaoran, nearly turning him into a kabob. Syaoran had fallen backwards and scrambled to the side to get out of the way of the machinery, thanking whatever god had let him move out of the way in time. With a nod and a silent prayer to the same god he withdrew a small black oval case from his right pocket and opened it. Inside was what appeared to be a miniature science lab, complete with slides, measuring devices, small vials, a collection apparatus for liquids and much, much more. With what seemed to be a practiced motion he pulled one of the vials out and moved over to the machinery, falling down onto one knee and approaching the fragment of the tube still coming from the machine. Carefully he drew the vial up and gathered a small amount of the metal, he was surprised to find it was actually a liquid and not a solid, as he had first expected. Placing a stopper in the vial he replaced it in the black kit, pocketed the kit itself, then rose to his feet. He was completely unaware to the fact his right knee had landed directly in the substance and didn't even notice the substance slip through his pants and disappear from sight entirely.

It was only a matter of minutes before he made it out; fortunately enough for him the door was locked open in the case of a clean-up emergency. He prayed the class hadn't of returned to the campus yet and made his way there with due haste. He sighed when he reached the area, they weren't here… had they forgotten him? "Mr. Moeroo! Might you be willing to tell me why you're here before us?" Called the professor's voice behind Syaoran, causing the teen to wheel around to face him. "Well, you see, I didn't want to distract the class and knew the tour was almost over so I thought I'd run and find a bathroom real quick, it was a bit of an emergency unfortunately" Syaoran said, blushing lightly and scratching his head in embarrassment.

"Unfortunate indeed… Class! Tomorrow we shall have a test on what we've seen here today… lets hope you all pass" the professor said, sneering at the mischievous student in front of him before turning and speaking to the tour guide for a short amount of time. "Good timing, you almost didn't make it… I certainly hope that little trip of yours was well worth the bad test grade you're going to get" Trent said with a smirk, looking up at Syaoran.

"Bad test grade? Who, me? Why would I get a bad grade when I got my little PDA right here" Syaoran said, patting Trent on the head lightly and chuckling. "Ooh, I don't care if I do get an F on a test, I actually got a sample from the lab" he said, glancing at the professor before drawing the kit from his pocket and opening it to let Trent see. The only substance in there was the blue liquid-metal substance. "I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it conducts electricity… actually it magnifies it quite a bit, so I have to think it's some sort of metal… but get this, it's a liquid at room temperature, just like mercury" Syaoran said, putting the kit away before getting shaken by Trent. "Syaoran, are you listening to me!? You just stole a valuable piece of research from Omega labs! Do you realize the kind of trouble you can get in if they catch you?" the boy whispered, there were rumors of people disappearing because they simply knew too much about the research going on… What if they were true?

"Oh don't get your panties in a knot, there was an overload in a machine and that caused an explosion, I only liberated this sample from the debris which landed near me. No harm no foul, finder's keeper's" Syaoran said with a smile, turning and walking towards the teleporters as the class began moving in that direction. Trent sighed and smacked himself on the forehead lightly, "He's going to be in jail before he graduates" he muttered, climbing the stairs up onto the teleporter system and standing next to Syaoran. "Alright everybody, line up, line up. It's time to get back to school, it's almost time for your next class" the professor called, turning towards the console at the front of the surface and pressing some buttons on it to select the school as their destination. He then reached and pressed a slightly larger, white button with the word Engage written on it in blue letters. The usual whirr of the generators beneath their feet occurred and then died down, but they didn't budge a single nanometer. "Well… this can't be good" the professor said, looking over to one of the mechanics as if to ask what the problem was. "Try it again, sometimes the generators are stubborn and simply won't provide enough power to start the process" the mechanic called, walking towards the platform.

Listening to the advice the professor pushed the button again. The whirr of the generators picked up again but instead of teleporting as expected they were instead greeted by a pained yell as Syaoran fell down onto his knees. His arms clutched his stomach, it felt as if his entire body was literally being ripped apart atom by atom. "Syaoran… What's the problem?" the professor asked with a sigh, muttering under his breath at how the teen was trying his patience. "Don't know… my chest hurts… I'll be fine…" he muttered, slowly forcing himself up onto both feet despite the few who were around him telling him to stay still. "No… no… I'll be fine until we… get to sch… the nurse" he said, shrugging his classmates off. Suddenly a call came from the side of the platform, "All right, I just reset the system and cycled the coolant to make sure the generators weren't overheating… try it again" the mechanic called, giving the professor a thumbs-up.

It seemed the professor paid little heed of Syaoran's words and was standing at the front when the mechanic began to talk again. "Alright, one more shot" he said with a sigh, pressing the button. As the professor engaged the system Syaoran gripped his sides more, looking as if he was going to fall over at any moment. "Dammed machine, work already!" the professor said, impatiently pressing the engage button one, two, a total of three more times. With each press of the button Syaoran gritted his teeth in pain more, eventually falling down onto his right knee with his classmates beside him to make sure he was okay. Slowly his body began to tingle and grow numb, a light-blue glow forming over his body in a similar fashion to how the teleporter normally would. "Everybody… get away… I… it's trying to translocate me… it's seems unstable, get away before it pulls you in too!" he yelled through clenched teeth and between pained gasps for air. His chest expanded as he sucked in the largest breath he could, "Get away, everybody!" he shouted, his entire body becoming consumed with the blue-white glow. He had never heard of something like this happening… It felt like he had cotton in his throat from yelling, He forced himself to swallow before moving his arms away from his stomach and striking out at the classmates who remained at his side, hitting them wherever he could to get them to move away. Suddenly his body quaked as electricity flowed through it, his back arched and his head leaned back as he looked skyward. Electricity crackled out of his eyes, from the tips of his fingers. Continuous bolts flowed from the floor below him into his chest. Suddenly the teen vanished, quickly followed by an ear-popping boom that originated from where he had been, knocking down everyone in it's path before impacting with the walls without a hint of damage…

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Oh yeah, me again! I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, and I can't wait to read any reviews you may place. For those of you who did like this I already have two more chapters ready to be posted and am currently working on the fourth as well (Though, I won't be posting the next chapter for a couple days... give me enough time to finish Chapter 4 at least) 

Quick fun-fact about the title of the story. The title was recommended to me by a close friend and it intrigued me, a quick peak into a dictionary revealed that the word 'Vicissitude' was simply (for lack of a better comparison) a synonym to the word 'Change'. So for those who had no idea what the title means here's a quick translation. 'Corruptive Changes'

And with that I'm off!


	2. Chapter 2: Horrid Truth

I would like to thank everyone who read my last chapter, particularly MungoJerry and BlackMirror6 for leaving reviews. I'd love to see more reviews from them and anyone else, so I'll give the two reviews a quick response and then let everyone get on with the story.

**MungoJerry** – If you think he's a bit of a gary-stu from the first chapter alone, then I am pretty glad that I got the feeling I wanted in. Chapter 1 was meant to set him up as a sort of flawless person just the way he viewed himself. And while I'm sure I could of done the intro with another chapter or two I kind of felt it worked well as a single chapter. As for development I already have that planned, part of it can be found in this and the next chapters so I am sure you won't be disappointed.

**BlackMirror6** – Glad you liked it, always great if you can pull someone into a universe they know nothing about and let them have fun. I'm planning on making this story so that it requires a minimal (or even no) knowledge of the metroid universe in order to enjoy it. Of course knowing some will likely to enrich the experience even more.

And with that, on to Chapter 2!

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**Chapter 2: _Horrid Truth_**

On the planet Saric a faint blue-white light began to form, at first it was barely visible and easy to miss, but slowly it grew larger and larger. Within five minutes a large hole was visible near the top of a small hill, it stood straight up and down and wasn't bound to any surface. If one were to look inside they would see a swirling vortex much as if the fabric of space and time had been torn asunder. A loud explosion echoed out in every direction of the hole, drawing attention from those nearby. Syaoran emerged from this hole; his knees held fast to his chest by both of his arms in an attempt at keeping whatever was in his stomach down. A yelp escaped from his lips as his back impacted with the dusty slope and he began to tumble down the side. When he realized he was no longer in hell and actually on solid ground his extremities stretched out. Fingers grasped around dead grass and feet dug into the dusty soil to stop his movements. The grass was too weak, and the sand too loose to support his weight. After a second his body began sliding backwards yet again. He Futilely clawed at the grass and sand in hopes he could stop himself, after a few minutes of struggling his feet came to rest on a red sandstone like surface overlooking a great chasm.

"Wha… where am I?" Syaoran asked, cringing as he shifted his position so he could sit down. His eyes moved about, taking in the environment one bit at a time. The entire area seemed… dead, the soil was nothing but dust, and there were several large chasms he could see from his seat on the red stone. Even the sky was red, but it wasn't from a setting sun… the entire sky was lit up by… a red sun? No, he had to be dreaming… Was he on another planet? Earth never had a red sun… It was more of an orange-white. From behind him Syaoran could hear something, it almost sounded like talking but all he heard were clicks and grunts. Slowly he turned to his right, his eyes growing wide at the site of a strange suit before him. All he could see for the dust was a silver helmet with a blue cross-shaped face plate along with the body's right arm extended towards him limply, a gun of some sort in his the hand. What really made the sight eerie was the fact the faceplate had been smashed in some, he could see the soldier's decomposing face and it took all that Syaoran still had to restrain himself from screaming. His feet kicked at the ground and he crawled backwards away from the body, shivering as he turned his head towards the top of the hill instead of the body. He could hear the speech even clearer now, it actually was a language of clicks and grunts, and even a few hisses were audible now. Slowly darkened figures came into view and began to descend the hill from what looked to be a staircase of red stone. Were they with this soldier? Perhaps they could help him…

Hoping for the best he rose up from the shadows he had been in and approached the group, waving. "Hey! Hee-eey! Can you help me? I don't kn-" He began before the four came fully into view. They looked to be about seven feet tall with large hands like crab claws, their heads held a set of mandibles which extended out from either side of their face and around the front back towards eachother, this must have been the clicking and hissing he had heard. "Why is it always me?" he asked, letting out a surprised sound when all four raised their arms towards Syaoran and began speaking loudly. Before Syaoran could even begin to beg for his life shots were fired at him. Quickly he dodged to his left behind a broken pillar; sure it would extend his life by at least sixty seconds. "Stop shooting! I'm unarmed!" he shouted desperately, not sure if they understood English or not. As the shots impacted the pillar and Syaoran's pleas went ignored a quiet and bass sound began to pick up from the distance and quickly increased in volume to something similar to the engine of a car idling. From the distance a flicker of light announced the presence of another player. Quickly the yellow ship sped towards Syaoran and the four creatures. Atop the yellow ship an orange figure stood, right arm extended with a gray device from the elbow down which looked to be some sort of gun. Shots rained down upon the targets as the ship drew closer and roared overhead. The figure leapt from atop the ship and landed in the center of the three figures that remained.

Syaoran three assailants were momentarily stunned by the sudden appearance of the hunter. The gun on his arm opened up at the tip as it was pointed directly at the chest of the closest foe, a missile fired from the gun and exploded on impact. The force of the blast sent the target flying backwards before the weapon's chilly payload froze them just in time for it to shatter when it landed on the balcony next to Syaoran. In this chaos Syaoran dove for the nearby corpse, which had nearly startled the life from him. He knew now that he needed to get armed in some way, so that he could at least take someone with him if he had to die here. The first of the two foes to come about aimed their weapon at their new target and fired a burst of four shots. Their target, however, had other plans in mind. The hunter made a quick clock-wise dash around the target as the gun changed, widening and gaining red lines here and there. The tip of his gun gathered a ball of energy for a few seconds before being fired at the creature's arm, severing it with searing-hot plasma and causing it's owner to topple over in pain. The gun once again changed forms, this time it returned to it's compact and circular shape with yellow lines down the sides and fired a single shot into the head of the pained opponent. This was a slight mistake on the part of the hunter and the last of the four took the opportunity to fire as many shots as it's gun would allow into him, draining energy with every shot landed it slowly started to step backwards. This provoked the hunter greatly; being shot wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, even if one did have a personal body suit with limited shielding abilities. The right arm pointed at the target as the hunter dashed back and forth. The tip opened and fired three missiles at the target in quick succession; nimbly tumbling to the side dodged the first, and then leaping over the second. But, unfortunately for this last foe, the last missile impacted directly and froze them instantly. The gun of the hunter glowed as a large yellow orb of energy gathered at the end before flying into the fragile ice statue, shattering it instantly.

Watching the fight unfold Syaoran felt a fear grow inside of him. What if this being was only saving him so they could kill him instead? Or worse, what if they wanted to eat him alive!? With a gulp he dove for the decomposing soldier, he turned his head away and did his best not to look at the face while his hands groped for the gun. After a few seconds he managed to wrest it from the man's death grip on the gun, the audible sound of a bone breaking caused Syaoran's lunch to rise but a quick swallow managed to quell the sickening sensation. His hands wrapped around the gun, he had no idea what sort of round it fired but it appeared to have the safety on it off. He slid his right pointer finger over the trigger and gripped the under side of the barrel with his left hand incase it had a kick.

"Hey you! Don't turn around!" Syaoran yelled, raising the energy rifle he had managed to get from the soldier at his new friend. "Who are you? You understand me don't you?" he asked curiously, his finger tightening on the trigger. "I'm Samus Aran, and if you don't mind I'd appreciate it if you lowered your weapon" a female voice said as the one in front of Syaoran turned about, ignoring his commands to stay still. "So you do understand me… Where am I? What is this place?" he asked, slowly lowering his gun so he wouldn't be thought as hostile as his last set of friends. "Where are you?" came Samus' voice with a hint of disbelief, "You're on the planet Saric… How did you get here kid? The Pirates wiped out the natives when they first decided to build a base here…" Samus asked, taking a few steps forward. This boy looked like a normal human, but his attire was… interesting, to say the least.

"The planet Saric? What?" Syaoran asked, blinking in disbelief, Did I travel to the future…? came a thought, it sounded plausible… "I don't understand, what's going on here? I was on earth just ten minutes ago…" Syaoran asked, thinking aloud mostly but willing to listen. "Kid, that's impossible, Saric is in the om… ….rant, over s…. weeks a…" Samus answered, Syaoran shaking his head as he grew dizzy, tired, and all around disoriented. "Kid, are y.. .ll ri…? K..?" Samus continued speaking, a jumble of sounds Syaoran's brain couldn't comprehend. His body decided it was through with all this work and it needed to rest. His knee thought it'd be fun to go on strike and the teen quickly fell onto them, his eyelids closed of their own accord, and his muscles loosened all over his body as he fell forward and fainted upon the dust…

----------Later; on the G.F.S. Athena----------

(Currently in high orbit over Saric)

"How is the… child?" A firm voice asked, it belonged to the admiral of the fleet. He was standing in the medical labs speaking with one of the doctors who had been watching Syaoran's condition since Samus had brought him onboard. He wore an outfit of what seemed to be a dim yellow suit with green metal forming a sort of decorative armor on his upper chest, fore arms, and from his knees down; there was even a sort of belt with thigh-plates. Atop his head was a green helmet that looked heavy with the metal and came to a rounded point about six or seven inches above his nose. Beside the admiral a woman wearing what appeared to be a blue scuba suit with light-blue accents was going over the information on the patient with a small datapad. "I'm not sure Admiral, his vitals check out aside from one small detail," The doctor said as she turned and walked towards Syaoran.

Syaoran was laid out on top of a surface similar to a bed, the surface underneath him was compressed by his weight much like a mattress, but unlike a bed there were no sheets or blankets to cover him with. On either side of the bed a computer console was set near the head, the console on Syaoran's right was the one the doctor stopped at and began to press a series of keys. "I'm not entirely sure how, but his physiology seems to be changing… He is giving off a very low dose of radiation similar to what phazon produces, but he isn't encountering any of the ill effects it would normally cause someone…" The doctor said, pressing more keys as small windows containing vitals on him began to pop up. "You mean like what happened in the Norion incident?" The Admiral said from beside the doctor, watching the information windows pop up above Syaoran. "No, well not exactly… With Samus and the others their bodies produced Phazon in significant quantities, enough to power a PED suit… But this boy, his cellular structure has been contaminated with it. It's almost as if his body has changed fundamentally to allow phazon to be created and used in his normal body processes, much like a protein. The quantities are, at my best guess, a hundredth of what the hunters were producing."

The Admiral nodded, understanding what he needed to, "So he poses no threat to us or the ship?" "Not from the readings I am getting Admiral, his body has actually declined production of Phazon since I first discovered it… I'll keep an eye on him and see if it increases at all but the radiation levels are nowhere near high enough to harm someone, even with extended exposure." The doctor said, tapping one last key to turn the console off. "Very well, when he comes to make sure he feels at home and alert me, I'd like to have a word with him…" The Admiral said, turning and walking out of the room. Over the course of the next two hours several of the doctors worked in the long wing of beds. There were at least nine patients in twenty-five beds and the only one who received constant surveillance was Syaoran. It seemed his condition was stable, there wasn't even a slight change in the rate the phazon was created and then processed by his body.

A small yellow window displaying heart rate appeared above Syaoran's bed about two feet above his chest, it showed a slowly increasing heart rate. "Ah, he's waking up! Zen, alert the admiral and get some food from the mess deck for him, he's bound to be hungry." The doctor from before said as she ordered the older male doctor who had been hovering above Syaoran and monitoring his vitals. "Sure, just keep an eye on him for me" Zen said, giving a friendly smile as he walked to a console near the exit.

"Hmm… Pupils are dilated" the female doctor said, holding Syaoran's eyes open and shining a bright light into them respectively. As she finished Syaoran jumped awake and looked around before focusing his attention on the woman standing over him. "Where… am I?" he asked, speaking seemed so foreign to him now, as if he had just woken from a deep sleep and wasn't entirely awake yet. "You're on the G.F.S Athena right now son, Samus Aran brought you here after discovering you in the middle of the pirate stronghold" the doctor said matter-of-factly, accessing the console to his left. "I have a name and it's not son" Syaoran responded through clenched teeth as he sat up. His entire body felt stiff down to the last tendon so he had decided to get up and stretch. "Alright, then what is your name?" the doctor asked, looking up to see Syaoran almost off the bed. "Whoa whoa whoa! Where do you think you're going?" she asked, quickly making her way around the bed to stand in front of him, "You need to stay in bed until we know you're going to be okay!" Syaoran sighed as he began stretching, groaning slightly as his body began to loosen up. "Don't get worried¸ I'll stay and play along with this little game," he said, sitting down as the nurse practically shoved him back in bed. "Game? What are you talking about?" The doctor asked, pressing a few of the buttons on the nearby console to bring up samples of his brainwave readings among other things.

A mechanical hiss preceded the opening of the nearby entrance and from it stepped the Admiral. His green metallic boots clicked heavily on the silver metal flooring as he approached the bed, the doctor stood up straight and offered a salute to the Admiral. "Enough of that Naie, let the boy breathe some" he said in his usual deep, commanding voice. His left hand motioned for her to lower her salute and be at ease, and Naie quickly moved to allow the Admiral to speak to Syaoran, "Of course sir".

"So son, what is this I hear about a game?" was the Admiral's first question, something about the way he said it made Syaoran cringe though. "Well… This has to be a game; albeit a sick one" Syaoran said, scratching his head before he pulled both of his legs up onto the bed so he could sit cross-legged. "All of this equipment doesn't exist, humans haven't moved on into the stars yet… Not very far, at least. So how could I be inside of some spaceship orbiting a planet I've never heard of? Logic points to some sadistic game… You and your boss probably hacked the teleportation network and pulled me to some sort of… Virtual chamber where you can make all of this seem real." Syaoran said to the Admiral, not a hint of humor on his face as he said it matter-of-factly. Everything he said made sense, but did he truly believe it? It was a bit of a wild tale…

"Son, this is no game..." The Admiral said, leaning forward so the two of them were face to face. "This is very _real_, and you may be in _real_ danger" The admiral said, exhaling a breath laced with smoke and garlic that made Syaoran cough. The Admiral stood himself straight again and continued his questioning. "Can you tell me what you were doing down on Saric in the middle of a G.F. operation?" the admiral asked, turning away from Syaoran and taking a few steps to admire a small view screen. "G.F.? Look, I really don't think any of this is real… but I'll humor you I suppose. I was down on Saric fighting for my life" Syaoran said with a sigh, reaching behind himself to grab his hair and bunch it together before reaching for his comb only to find it gone.

The Admiral didn't particularly like the bit of sass this kid put in his answer, but let it slide for the sake of getting answers. "And do you know how you got there? Did the Pirates capture you for genetic experimentation, as my science officers think?" the Admiral questioned, turning towards Syaoran once more. "Uh, nope sir. As far as I know something went haywire with the teleportation network and it must have dropped me off" came the teen's retort with a sigh. The nearby door hissed again and Zen stepped through with a metal food tray loaded with different foods, he was also carrying a knife and fork in each hand. As Zen made his way towards Syaoran a loud rumble came from the patient's stomach, causing him to lick his lips in anticipation. "Zen, hold up a moment" the Admiral said, holding a hand out to keep the doctor away from the hungry Syaoran. "One more question, then you can eat… Where are you from? What planet?" "What kind of stupid question is that? I'm from Earth!… Now can I eat si'?" was Syaoran's response before a nod from the Admiral let Zen hand the boy his food.

Much to Syaoran's surprise the food tasted… horrible, it was horrible! A smile came across Syaoran's face after swallowing the first bite. "So you like it?" Zen asked happily, sitting in a nearby chair. "No, the food's awful!" was the teen's ecstatic reply. "If it's so bad then why are you happy…?" Naie asked curiously. "Because… People trying to hold me in a faux reality would want to make it pleasurable to ensue the image… The food would at least be 'alright'… but this is horrid!" Syaoran replied, still smiling as the two doctors gave eachother a quizzical glance. So it wasn't a game… But where was he? _When_ was he? Is this the future, or some distant past? Maybe he was just inside of another universe entirely? It didn't matter to Syaoran, right now he was excited at his findings, a whole new world? New technologies? Maybe even an entirely different history!

* * *

Hoped everyone liked it, feel free to drop a review and point out things you really like, have an issue with, or even just don't understand (I'll drop you a reply if you don't understand something, I swear! I'll even check the story to see if there's anything I can do to help others who read it understand it!)

And with that, I'm off. Everyone have a safe time and expect Chapter 3 coming out in the next week or so (I mostly need to check it for grammar and spelling errors)


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